Review: Kravis’ series off to rousing start with Israel Philharmonic

No time for curtain warmers: The 43rd season of the Kravis Center’s Regional Arts Concert Series was launched Saturday full force, with a concert by two of the most prestigious names in the world of classical music — Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic.

Playing to an almost full Dreyfoos Hall, the celebrated conductor drew a lush sound from the orchestra in readings full of rhythmic excitement, despite his economy of gestures.

The program opened with Footnote, Suite for Orchestra by Israeli composer Amit Poznansky. A neoclassical piece written with material from the soundtrack to Footnote, a 2011 movie, it featured catchy melodies and rhythms that communicated well with the audience.

At the pinnacle of his fame, Mehta is to be commended for his advocacy of living composers. He and his accomplished musicians gave a convincing reading of the short work, making a strong case for it.

The program continued with more familiar repertoire in Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2. From the introductory measures played by flutes and harp, one could anticipate a masterful performance ahead. And masterful it was.

Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic excelled in an interpretation characterized by clarity of lines and well-thought phrasing and structural pacing. Sure, there were some moments of uncontrolled fortissimi, but they added a little Dionysian flavor to a mostly Apollonian rendition.

The second part consisted of another celebrated work, although seldom performed on these shores: Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40. An autobiographical tone poem that features fragments of the composer’s most famous creations, it is a complex work that requires a large orchestra and a master conductor.

Both requisites were met on Saturday. Mehta held the work together with unusual precision. One of the many celebrated soloists in this “orchestra of soloists,” concertmaster David Radzynski played his challenging solos with dramatic sense and aplomb.

The audience’s standing ovation and repeated curtain calls were obliged with a humorous rendition of a polka by another famous Strauss: Unter Donner und Blitz (the Thunder and Lightning Polka), Op. 324, by Johann Strauss Jr.